Pining Drunks
by Ahau
Summary: "Rouge honestly didn't believe what she was seeing. Amazing what alcohol could do to people." - The 3rd part of the series following Special. Knuxadow, and the One-Sided Love Triangle nobody asked for.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I have developed a drinking problem.

Consider this a third part following the series that started _Special_. _This is not a One-Shot_ and will probably be three chapters. This is stationed a couple months after _Wet Creases._ You don't really need to read the others to fully understand what's going on here so, whoo hoo.

I'm throwing my entire PDA repulsed narrative for these two right out the window for this one. Shadow likes the touching and so does Knuckles.

They want to touch each other but are being really stupid about it. So, they need a little bit of help.

Song that's in here is _Let Me Live (Major Lazer, Feat. Rudimental, Anne-Marie, Mr. Eazi)_

* * *

Pining Drunks

* * *

Hosting a drunk Knuckles was so fucking weird. It'd only been 45 minutes into the evening and after losing terribly at four games of drunk uno and connect four, the guardian was beyond wasted. Not necessarily gone, but definitely fucked up.

Rouge honestly didn't believe what she was seeing.

There was no way the person sitting across from her was their hot-headed guardian. That annoyingly peevish echidna had protested so angrily about being dragged away from his island just to _'fuck around'_ at Sonic's place, to the point where it had taken them an entire two weeks of probing just to get him to show up. They were simply amazed by the fact that they'd even gotten him down here and now to put the icing on the cake, they managed not only to get Knuckles to try liquor for the first time _ever_ but also get him drunk within the span of _one hour._

It was literally as if a switch was flipped and Knuckles entire personality did a 180. They were sharing a room with an entirely different person. The normally grumpy, bad-tempered packaged box of nerves had become this clingy, smiley, delirious drunken mess of an **_impostor._**

Knuckles is a huge advocate of the _"Keep your hands to yourself"_ policy and everyone who he associated himself with knows this. His toleration of physical contact within his circle of friends barely extended past a high five. Hugs were awkwardly returned and quickly shrugged out of, and hell, even pats on the back from his closest of friends made the echidna tense up almost instinctively.

Now, here he was grinning openly and snorting out ridiculous laughs to every dumb joke he was told. His eyes were droopy in almost a sleepy looking way that cast out whatever grumpy frown lines that would usually crease on his face. He engaged in silly spats, regarded everyone with friendly eyes and had barely snapped at not one person the entire evening... and it was _great!_ Wonderful even, Sonic couldn't even begin to put into words how happy he was that his recluse of a friend was having a good time just _chillin_ out with them. It was something the blue hero wished his friend didn't miss out on so often.

But then, the inevitable happened and things took a turn for the worst... _seemingly._

Much unlike the others, Sonic didn't bat an eye when Shadow walked into the living room with a full cup of beer in his hand. Didn't bat an eye when his grouchy looking ass took a seat next to Knuckles on the couch either, _even though there were a bunch of other places available to sit._ It didn't faze him not one bit when he saw the hedgehog skim Knuckles over from the corner of his eye, face torn between some pained looking grimace of scrutiny and amusement; nor when he responded to the echidna's attention turning to him with a raised brow.

He _did_ blink, however, in surprise when Knuckles practically fucking beamed at the gloomy asshole. Numerous amounts of confused choking sounds came from different parts of the room and Sonic couldn't help but snicker into his cup. Oh boy, were they confused. Knuckles was grinning as if this guy just hung the gotdamn moon for him and all he did was sit next to him. If Sonic didn't know any better, he would have said he spotted a flush on that hedgehog's face. It could have been just a trick of the light though because Shadow? Blushing? _**Ha!**_ You'd have a better chance at making rocks talk.

Luckily, for the unassuming echidna, Knuckles behavior was quickly ruled as justifiable due to his outlandishly friendly nature that he'd been reduced too. Alcohol man, the best medicine for tight-asses. Plus, Shadow didn't seem to mind nor commented on it, so it was nothing to freak out about… right?

Rouge doesn't even remember what the fuck Sonic had said and neither did the hedgehog himself. It was probably lame, a repeat of one of his many stupid jokes that he's told the echidna before and even though Knuckles was never easy to amuse, the influence of alcohol must have shot that shit right out the window; because now, Knuckles was _wheezing._

So hard that he made Sonic's own cackles punch harder, until tears glistened at the corners of his eyes. Knuckles, _an unrestrained_ Knuckles had one of those stupid laughs that made whatever the hell you said to him funnier, just by his dumbass laugh alone.

Sonic was tearing and his thigh burned underneath the force of his slaps while Knuckles was holding his sides for dear life, bent over at the force of his own cackling. Both of their faces were red with how hard they were laughing, it caused quite the eruption of snickers from the few who were just listening in to their stupid ass conversation… and _then_ the guardian swayed.

Now, **_this_ **wouldn't have been a problem if he'd landed sideways on the couch that he was sitting on _by himself._.. but he wasn't by himself. So, Knuckles ended up plopping his body right onto the person he'd been sharing the couch _with._

Shadow.

Everyone, and I mean **_everyone's_** head turned. All conversations halted at the suddenly tense atmosphere of the room. Their jaws dropped straight to the floor the moment their friend even entered Shadow's personal space and in his lap of all places! Now, all of a sudden, Knuckles drunk personality wasn't all that funny anymore. Because if there was anyone who disliked people invading their personal space more than the guardian, it was Shadow.

They watched Shadow's entire body go rigid. How his dark brows furrowed together and lips pulled into a scowl. His wide crimson eyes slowly shifted downward to the red male who'd landed on his lap. Knuckles, of course, oblivious to it all despite how deathly silent the living room had gotten, kept on with his poorly contained snickers and used his arm to rub the tears out of his eyes. Everyone watched in heavy silence, all certain that the hedgehog was definitely going to send Knuckles heavy wasted ass flying into a wall. A good handful of people prepared to get up to retrieve Knuckles incase anything violent was gonna pop off... but surprisingly, none of those things happened.

It was swift and barely noticeable to anyone too far a distance from them, but Rouge and Sonic were close. So, they were the only ones who were able to catch that quick moment when Shadow's widened eyes turned into a glare of disbelief and then flickered away into a look of... endearment?

Everyone who had expected the hedgehog to flip his shit was dumbfounded when instead he did... _absolutely nothing._

He leaned back into the couch, set his shoulders straight and went back to sipping on his drink.

No one dared say a word.

The disbelief and questions written all over their faces only intensified when they began looking at each other as if they were going crazy and then back at Shadow like _he_ was crazy. Their eyes only shifted away when the obsidian hedgehog, displeased with the fact that everyone's attention seemed stuck on him, glared all of them down.

For a few moments, it was dead silent. Everyone was unsure about how to return to their idle conversations with all that weirdness happening in the middle of the room. But then, _miraculously_ the sound system, _which up until now had gone completely unnoticed,_ paused and plunged the room into even deeper silence.

Thankfully, the next track picked up after the last song and put an end to the awkward quiet.

 _As I walk through the water,_

 _so many things I see,_

 _uh-huh,_

 _And then I say to myself,_

 _it's never as it seems-_

It _revitalized_ the atmosphere, giving the opportunity for all the partygoers to begin awkwardly heading back into their own conversations. It only took a couple minutes of mindless chatter and stiff snickering before everything began to slip back into normality.

The group appeared either to be ignoring or moving on from all the weirdness happening in the sofa adjacent to them, returning to passing around drinks and sharing silly stories.

...well, everyone except _Sonic_ and _Rouge._

The shared look they kept giving each other expressed their similar disbelief. Sonic though, had a wide grin of pride on his face while Rouge was just **_shook._ **What, were they supposed to _ignore_ this strange developing milestone going on between their equally grumpy ass friends?

Even if they wanted to ** _how could they?_**

Every time they caught movement in their peripheral vision, Knuckles was moving his neck to rest more comfortably on top of Shadows thighs. Grinning up at him as if he wasn't coddled up on someone else's lap like no big deal. Shadow wasn't any better, the hedgehog was plucking the lemon slices from Knuckles empty cup one by one and chewing on them while listening to whatever the drunk guardian had to say. _Why he even had so many lemon slices in the first place was a mystery to her._

Nonetheless, something weird was going on here. Rouge was pretty sure that if she threw her drunk ass on top of Shadow like that, he'd shove her right to the floor, and Rouge had been his friend for the longest!

Knuckles was drunk, so he could be looked past when it came to his bizarre his personality change, but _Shadow_?

 _ **Shadow**_?! He had no excuse. He'd barely even touched his drink! There was no excusing him absentmindedly toying with the echidna's dreads, or the knee that kept rotating against the back of Knuckles neck. Or that smile on his fac- **smile!?**

 _Glass_ _shattered_ _within_ _the_ _depths_ _of Rouge's mind_.

Was that hedgehog **smiling?!**

"I'm not entirely oblivious to what's going on-" Sonic said. "-but damn, this is satisfying."

"Yeah? Well I am. Why is he's smiling." Rouge's eyes narrowed. "He is smiling right?"

"Yeah." Sonic grinned. "He's also eating lemons with one of the straightest faces I've ever seen." His face made a disgusted grimace. "Rouge, why's your friend so gross?"

"That hedgehog never smiles."

"I know."

"It's horrifying. Shield my eyes wonder boy. They'll combust into flames if I look any further."

Sonic let out a burst of laughter and slapped his leg with the force of his snickers. "You're so mean, be nice. It's not like the world is gonna end just because Shadow learned how to tug his upper lip."

"You say that today, while the world is still intact. Come tomorrow though, you'll be eating those words. That smile is enough to trigger at least four natural disasters." She took another sip of her alcohol, willfully ignoring the burning sensation that was probably loosening her tongue to where she couldn't even pretend to hide her suspiciousness. "I knew they were becoming closer but I didn't think they were getting _that_ close. Shadow's stubborn ass doesn't like anyone touching him, not even me."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, you're right. When you look at it that way at least." He grinned. "Knuckles definitely has some special privileges going on for 'em. But you gotta remember your place here, you're just his friend."

"I'm his _closest_ friend."

"I get that, I get that." Sonic light-heartedly reassured. "Probably his only one from where I can see it... but, what if Knuckles is like..." He gestured with his hands. "-something _more_ than that? More than just a friend." With just that one sentence, Sonic brought Rouge's entire train of thought to a complete halt. She turned to look at the blue hero, and even with the suggestive wiggling of his brows, Rouge could tell that he wasn't joking in the slightest. He almost looked like he wanted her to agree with him.

 _Interesting._

 _Now,_ he had her attention. She quickly downed her drink and scooted closer to him.

"That's a _big_ assumption blue." They were whispering now, heads dipping closer towards each other. "What makes you think Shadow would even be interested in someone like Knuckles? Romantically at that. I don't even think that hedgehog knows what _dating_ even is."

Sonic struggled with containing his laugh. "Well, you don't have to know what dating is in order to like someone." He had a point there.

"But our Shadow? This guy? Liking someone? We are talking about the same hedgehog, right? Ultimate lifeform, mayor of Gloomtown, a knack for destruction."

"The edgelord himself?" Sonic continued for her, emerald eyes glimmering in mischief. "Sure, why not."

"But Knuckles...?" She gazed back over to them with a squint. "Out of all people, you assume Knuckles would be his _first_ pick?"

"You're telling me that you really don't think Knuckles could _possibly_ be his type?"

...

There was a long pause in between her answer to Sonic's question; her frustrated frown slowly deepening on her face... until something short-circuited within that brain of hers. Rouge's gaze became 10x times more intense. Starting with the guardian first, her eyes she scanned him over from head to toe and began picking him apart in any relevant way she knew how.

What exactly did Knuckles have?

A bad temper, a scowl that nearly laid _permanent_ across his face, **_s_** ** _trength,_** a weird shady mysterious past that no one knew three fucks about... _quadruple_ _checks_.

Did he work out? Yes.

Was he stubborn? 100%.

A bit taller than the other but not by much. _Handsome,_ in his own right. Long spines, dark eyes and covered from head to toe in red... **_Shadow's favorite fucking color._**

"Oh _my god_."

"Yep."

"Knuckles might be his type." Sonic's head jerked her way so fast.

"I know."

"You do?!"

"You can't tell me you really didn't notice." Sonics looked at her, now in full mirth. "There's no way you could have missed the signs." She did, she really did. Rouge missed all of the signs. To be fair, she wasn't necessarily paying attention to the progression of their relationship over the past couple years or so. There was nothing there really for her to assume anything romantic would, or even could come out of it.

...but now that she thought about it, these two really shared a lot of similarities. Shadow was like a Knuckles 2.0 _, except less friendly and installed with a record of homicidal tendencies._ "Cmon Rouge..." Sonic sounded exasperated. "They've been tiptoeing around each other for almost a year. Those two spend more time together than with anyone else combined and that's only counting the few interactions where they're actually _willing_ too. Think about it." He nudged her arm. "If Shadow practically vanishes from the planet for days on end and he's not at GUN or with you, where do you think he is?" He gestured towards Knuckles with his thumb. "And when he's not lurking around the city all by himself with an angry cloud over his head, who do you think he's with?"

He gestured his thumb towards Knuckles again. "Seriously?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah, I mean, I've run into Shadow way more times on the island than I've ever run into him down here. There's not much to do on the island after you explore it all. Unless you like looking at trees grow. It was like, painfully obvious why Shads spends the majority of his time there."

Rouge was... **annoyed**. She should have been prying more into Shadow's personal life if he was going to go off and mind fuck everyone by doing things like _get_ _ting himself a fucking boyfriend.'_

Sonic was right though, how the fuck did she miss that? She remembered the whole birthday fiasco earlier this year, which she admittedly was surprised about. Rouge wanted Shadow to get a gift for the guardian for his birthday because she knew it would make the hothead happy. He appreciated gifts even though he protested against receiving them so much. That was primarily why she told him about it, but she didn't expect for him to go to the extent that he did. Even with that, she didn't realize Shadow was going so much out of his way for Knuckles because he had feelings for him.

He's gifted Rouge things before, rather thoughtlessly but it was still an honest effort. Despite making it clear that he didn't care much for the traditions that come with companionship, whenever he found or obtained something that was of little use to him, if it was within Rouge's spectrum of interest, she'd find it by her door or on the nightstand near her bed when she returned to her home.

Shadow had made attempts to bide into these social constructs of maintaining a friendship with her, so she didn't think twice about encouraging him to do so with _another._ Especially if it was someone who's he has only recently been able to acquire. If anything, she was just glad that Shadow had managed to actually obtain a friend beside her and Omega. _But she didn't think it'd lead to this._

She would had never seen those two as compatible. If anything putting them together felt similar to locking two big violent dogs in a cage and letting them go at it until one of them stepped out victorious. Not kiss and makeup, the hell was the deal between these two?

She was more astonished at Shadow than Knuckles. The guardian is a bizarre individual but she knows that even he does crave and appreciate companionship. His relationship with Sonic was weird and inconsistent but genuine at most. Shadow was different… Shadow treated almost everyone with indifference, even his most trusted friends at times.

So what is it that suddenly made the echidna an exception.

Knuckles is bad-tempered, loud, can be seriously rude and has one of the nastiest resting bitch faces that this group can offer. But, Rouge could admit that those things didn't necessarily make him unattractive. From her own standpoint, he was good looking for a guy that lacked personal upkeep. He had a good conscious and was probably one of the more reliable people she'd ever known... but Shadow? Seriously?!

There wasn't much the hedgehog took interest in that co-related with anything the guardian even _did_. Sure, they were both cranky but their interest, _the few that they might have,_ didn't even add up in the slightest of ways.

...but truthfully, if she tried imagining a visual of what Shadow's type would actually be or look like, her result would come up blank. Hell, she never even assumed that Shadow _could_ like someone like that.

The more she became aware of how little she knew about certain aspects of her comrade, the more everything was beginning to become a bit more believable. Sonic may have a point.

 _...oh fuck,_ Sonic may have a point.

"Huh…" She murmured under her breath.

Just how long has Shadow been crushing on the hotheaded guardian? Even better question, how long had they been dating?

If they even were dating. She was tempted to entertain the thought that they weren't, but Shadow looked suspiciously comfortable with being used as a headrest for Knuckles big head. Completely absorbed in a state that Rouge had rarely ever witnessed him in. He was paying the echidna 99% if not all of his attention.

She could tell just by the tunnel-visioned look he had on his face, as if Knuckles was the only one in the room with him. He couldn't be saying anything worthwhile being as drunk as he was, but her colleague looked at him like he was someone of _utmost importance._

… It was really fucking weird.

The longer she looked the more something uncomfortable twisted in her stomach. Something she'd rather not label for what it was.

"Red!" She jumped in her seat, startled by Sonic's sudden outburst. Blue boy was honestly either the worst at reading the mood or just liked ruining moments for the fun of it. Any trace of content on Shadow's face instantly dropped the moment Knuckles attention shifted away from him.

Knuckles reaction time was too slow for her to be comfortable with, but after blinking through a few moments of muddled confusion, he turned his still grinning face towards Sonic. Shadow was not grinning, in fact, he was straight out glaring at the green-eyed hedgehog. "You look like you need a refill bud, care for another shot?"

 _ **"No."**_ Both of those answers left Rouge and Shadows mouth at the same time. So in sync, that even they had to stop and look at each other.

"Oh, my bad. I didn't know he had chaperones with him."

"You must intend on making him incapable of heading home after your little celebration ends Sonic." Something about the way Shadow brushed his fingers against Knuckles forehead made her insides crawl even more.

"That's the idea!" Sonic's smirk was shameless. "After all, this is a one in a lifetime opportunity, hanging out with big red like this. The longer he's drunk the longer he'll stay. I don't know about you but he's looking pretty comfortable. You wouldn't mind keeping him there for a little longer for us, will ya.?" Sonic was sure that the scowl Shadow gave him in response was probably the nastiest his dark counterpart had ever given him.

"You're insinuating I let you get him drunker for your amusement."

"You, don't have to _let_ me do anything." Sonic smirked. "Knuckles is a big boy, he can take care of himself." Wow, she really did not know who the root for here. On one end, Shadow wasn't wrong for trying to limit Knuckles alcohol consumption. It was his first time after all, and if they truly were... _boyfriends,_ it would be only right to make sure he didn't make himself sick.

...but on the other hand, Knuckles was his own person. If he wanted to make himself sick, then go for it. Moreover, part of her wanted Knuckles to puke on Shadow anyway.

"Yer a piece of shit bloo." Actually, never mind. He didn't need any more alcohol, not with him slurring sentences like that. "But I likh you. Gimmie anoth-one."

"Oh?" His brows raised while wasting no time to pour Knuckles another drink. "You like me huh?"

Knuckles brows scrunched up, confused at the question. _"_...yeah? _"_ Rouge was confused too, but going by the look on Shadow's face, her friend didn't like that question whatsoever. His glare hardened, especially when Sonic locked eyes with him. He already knew what question was coming next.

"Do you like me? Or, do you _like, like_ me?" The flame in Shadow's eyes flared. His fingers tightened around his cup of beer in an attempt not to splash the subsistence in Sonic's face.

"Wha'..." Knuckles nose scrunched up, clearly displaying his confusion. "Like like? Double like? What's that even mean."

"You know when you like, like someone? It's different from when you just, _like,_ someone."

"..." Knuckles squinted at him like he was stupid. "The fuck- what? No. _No, no,_ no, sayin it twice don change the meaning of the word dum dum." Shadow actually huffed in amusement. Weird considering just a minute ago he was clenching his teeth so angrily. The guardian managed to tug what was nearly an actual smile from Shadow's face; amused by how similar Knuckles answer was to his own when Sonic had asked him the same question a few months ago. _(It's in Special)_

Sonic took note of it too, and _oh boy._ If Shadow thought that Knuckles answer had deterred him in the slightest, he was about to get a rude awakening.

"Oh cmon, it totally does!" He said swirling Knuckles drink that he still held in his hand. "You have to look at the context!"

"Context?" Knuckles snorted. "Wha' context?"

"Well, for starters, let's have an example yea?" Sonic smirked knowingly and planted his elbows on top of his knees so that he could lean forward. He was honestly to drunk to be having this kind of conversation with his red-headed friend, and so was fucking Knuckles _by far._ Way beyond the realm of discreteness, but hey, you know what they say. When life hands you lemons... _squeeze them all in Shadows face._

"How much would you say you _liked me?"_ The suggestiveness of that tone had Shadow wanting to kick the smirk right off of Sonic's face. "Would you saaaay, you liked me more than Amy?"

Knuckles nose scrunched up as he honestly, for a moment, thought about it. "Yea, I guesso."

"Tch, figures." Sonic rolled his eyes. "What about Tails." Knuckles shrugged and nodded again.

"Yea."

"Vector, over there? Espio too?" Sonic continued on- "What about Silver?"

 _ **"Sonic."**_ Shadow caught the attention of all three of them, by sounding absolutely done with all of the blue blurs nonsense. "I don't know what game you're playing at, but it ends here. Where exactly are you going with this?" Good question, Rouge was curious too. Where in the fuck was Sonic going with thi- _oh_ _no..._

Sonics smirk sharpened-

 _'No, no, no. Sonic, don't you fucking do it.'_

-he looked positively smug about riling up the one person in the room who'd gladly give into any excuse to plant his face straight into the floor. So of course, he was going to go through with it, and actually fucking do it. "What about _Shadow,_ Knux." All four of them went silent and the crimson eyes of the ultimate life form went from _pissed_ to widening in shock. Sonic stared directly at him too and continued asking his question. "Do you like me more than Shadow?"

...

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. Sonic was starting trouble and Rouge quite honestly feared for his safety when Shadows face began to darken. This was not good, so not good. Rouge shook her head in Shadow's direction, trying to convince him to chill and not flatten Sonic into the couch. Shadow was about to open his mouth to spit something nasty at the hedgehog's smug face... until Knuckles swiftly broke the tension with a snorting laugh.

"Pffft, what?!" Unlike team Dark, Knuckles looked and sounded just as amused as Sonic did. Shadow looked at the guardian in surprise. "Das a good one. Don' ask me stupid questions, of cuse' I like Shadow more. You know tha'."

Both Rouge and Shadow nearly dropped their drinks. The bats' jaw quite literally fell open, while Shadow... _oh my god,_ actually looked embarrassed. Did Knuckles really just blurt that out for them and everyone in close proximity to hear? At a party, with all of their friends?!

Then, for some reason, Knuckles began to frown. With creased by brows, he turned his head back around to look Shadow in the eye, fixing him with a worried stare. "You know that too, yea? Tha' I like you more?" Shadow's eyes couldn't possibly widen anymore. "Cuz, y'kno..." Knuckles tapped the back of his fist against the furred chest. _"I do."_

The ultimate life form inhaled sharply and reeled back to put a little space between him and the guardian. He truly could not look Knuckles in the eyes after listening to him say something like that and fought hard within himself, not to give in and let his face turn into any warmer shades that it was tempted too. He hid his timidity well, beneath that cold mask of his, but not well enough. Rouge could see his restlessness, not in his eyes but in his hands. They twitched around his cup of beer like a tail of a nervous cat; so much that he had to give up the beverage and put it down on the table behind them before he dropped it.

When Shadow didn't respond, Knuckles frowned deeper and huffed at the hedgehog ignoring his question. None of them expected for the echidna to _quite literally_ reach up and tug at one of those pointed ears himself. "Answer meee." Rouges jaw dropped even more. But still, the hedgehog regarded the guardian with a leveled stare. Face doing it's best to give nothing away.

"Yes." It was to low to be heard by anyone but Knuckles, but both of their friends could easily read his lips. "I do."

Once again, Knuckles fucking beamed at him and Rouge had to down a whole nother glass of vodka. Sonic, the little shit, was grinning at her as if saying _'See?_ _I told you so.'_ Yeah, thanks a lot, _fucking trouble maker._ She honestly wanted to flick him right on his forehead.

"Now I think that boad of honesty deserves, another drink!" Knuckles, unfortunately, was just as excited.

"Alrigggght!" Sonic reached out to pass Knuckles his shot of alcohol but instead of the guardian taking it, Shadow snatched it right out of the blue heros hand. "Ey! Shads..."

"AHA!" Sonic exclaimed. "I knew it! He DOES call you that."

Shadow ignored him. "You're going to get sick if you continue on like this." He said, now fully addressing the echidna with his attention.

Knuckles honest to god pouted at him and it was got damn adorable. Rouge almost coughed while drinking a second glass. "I don' feel sick. I feel sph-" He paused, squinting at his own loss of words. "I feel sph- fine. I feel fine."

"Yeah no. You don't." Shadow reached over to dig inside of the cooler that sat by beside the sofa and plopped a bottle of water straight onto Knuckles lap. "Drink it, all of it. If it can sober you up enough, then you can have your share of more alcohol. But if you still can't articulate a single coherent sentence, don't touch this stuff anymore tonight. I mean it." Knuckles grumpily scrunched up his nose but Shadow had his mind made up. In response, he downed the shot in one gulp... and immediately started coughing. "Phack! What the hell-!"

"PAHAAA-" Both Sonic and Knuckles, along with the couple of people that were in close vicinity to them, burst into laughter. Shadow coughed and hacked, desperate to get the burning sensation out of his throat. Pounding his fist against his chest in an attempt to escape the burn. This time Rouge fell into laughter too and did her best not to let any threatening tears ruin the makeup on her face.

"Well, you had the right idea doll-face."

"You see!" Knuckles could barely contain his gasping laughs. "You shuda just let'me drink it!" There he was, wheezing all over again.

"Do you even know what that was." Shadow groaned through his coughing, reaching over to steal Sonic's lemon _("Hey!")_ from his cup and run it over his tongue. _"I_ don't even know what that was, what the fuck was that."

Vector chimed in from the kitchen. "SONIC! TEQUILA?!"

"TEQUILA!" Immediately, the hedgehog cast a stormy glare towards his blue counterpart.

" _WHY_ in your right mind would you give that to him?"

"For exactly the reason you're coughing right now! Pahaa!" There was no sense in even getting mad anymore, both Sonic and Knuckles were incoherent and practically in tears, holding onto their stomachs from the pain their cackling induced. Knuckles, this time around would have succeeded in falling completely off the couch if Shadow hadn't noticed him slipping. Though upset about embarrassing himself and having the echidna laugh at his dismay, he popped the lemon slice into his mouth and quickly reached down to catch him.

Rouge had to admit, it was nearly endearing to watch the hedgehog carefully place Knuckles _back on his lap._ Yeah, not the couch, his _lap._ The fall wouldn't hurt Knuckles and would definitely serve as payback for laughing at him, but Shadow still found the need to save him from his stumble. It was sweet... however, whatever endearment that was there quickly lost its charm when Knuckles responded by curling into the hedgehog's lap further and turning so that he could brush his head against Shadows stomach. Those violet eyes stared up at him in his mirth, a mischevious smirk slanting across his face.

"Don worry Shads. If you get sick, I promise to take care of ya."

Shadow actually fucking blushed and Rouge dropped her glass right out of her hand.

* * *

"Yeah, no one's going home tonight." Espio said, staring at the percentage of his wasted friends still in the living room. One more game of Uno they said, another game of Never Have I Ever they said, now look at everyone. Drunk and sprawled out all over the floor. He didn't know why he was so surprised, this wasn't a rare occurrence at all, but he'd been looking forward towards actually leaving tonight. He cared about his friends and didn't mind taking sacrificing some of his own time to spend with them, but honestly... god, they were just too fucking much.

"Espio." He looked over in Rouge's direction, _one of the only people there with an actual tolerance for alcohol,_ thankfully, still conscious and able to walk on her own two feet.

"Do you need something?"

"Where's Shadow and Knuckles." Espio raised a brow.

"I don't know about Shadow but Sonic put Knuckles in a room down the hall. He couldn't stay awake after that last game." Rouge looked upset, conflicted even. Espio could not make out why knowing this would make her look that way but he could only assume it wasn't any of his business. Even though he had also paid witness to what happened between the two of them earlier, the last thing he wanted to do was get too involved with his friends' relationships. He was happy for them, though not necessarily surprised. The outcome seemed inevitable from the moment they questioned him on Knuckles birthday.

Maybe the others didn't recognize it but he knew there was going to be some real changes to the dynamic of their relationship from that day on. "Did you need something from him? Cause I don't know if you'd get anything out of him now…"

"No, it's fine." She slipped herself out of the chair and into a glide with such grace, he couldn't help but take a moment to admire her for it. "I just wanted to make sure he's okay. Won't feel right leaving without seeing him off." She gave him a smile that didn't necessarily reach her eyes. "What room is he in hon?"

Espio jerked his head in the direction of the hall. "Last one on the left. I'd tell you not to wake him but he's not a light sleeper, so you should be fine."

"I'll keep it in mind." Espio watched her glide down the hall with curious eyes.

"She's going to get her feelins hurt you'know." The chameleon startled and turned to see Amy Rose, smiling at him from her elbows over the couch.

"How do you figure, Amy?"

"Psh, you can't tell? Trust me, if there's anyone who can recognize an unrequited love, it's me. I can see romance, FEEL IT. It's in my veins!" Amy placed an arm over her eyes dramatically.

Espio frowned and turned back towards the hall Rouge had gone down. _So that's what it was..._ "Maybe it wasn't the best idea to send her back there then."

"She'll be fine." Amy drunkenly slid down the couch and to the floor, nudging a passed out white hedgehog from beneath her feet. "Ro's a big girl, and tough. Like me." She smiled self assuringly. "It'll take a while but she'll just have to learn to live with it." Her voice became somber and her smile dropped from her face. "Just like I did..."

… and then she started bawling, right there on the floor. Espio had a look of sheer horror on his face, panicked eyes eyeing both her and the swift exit of the living room.

 _'This is not what I came here for.'_

* * *

 **A/N:** So, who do you think Rouge likes? (ಸ◞౪◟ಸ) Is it **Shadow?** Or is it _Knuckles?_

 _WHICH ONE? COUL D IT BE?_

 _Guess right and you get a whole pizza._

...or you can wait until chapter three but THAT'S BORING.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Cue the dramatics.

* * *

Pining Drunks 2

* * *

"So, _arrrrre_ we going to talk about what happened tonight?"

"Fuck off, Sonic." It wasn't her intention to eavesdrop on them, it really wasn't, but she couldn't resist the curiosity burning in her gut when she caught Sonic and Shadow in her peripheral vision. The both of them, actually sharing a space together... and _talking_ to each other.

This group honestly just got weirder by the second. Shadow was about to rip this hedgehog's throat open just a couple of hours ago. Now alluva sudden they were talking to each other like normal people. It's amazing what alcohol could do to folks when the consumption rate was high enough.

Rouge wasn't even sure if Shadow had the ability to _feel_ drunk.

"No seriously! I'm not messin with ya, 100% genuine Sonic the Hedgehog here!" Sonic laughed over the sound of running water. He must have been at the sink washing out cups.

She peered curiously into the entryway of the kitchen. The lights were dimmed low but she could spot Shadow leaning against the other side of the kitchen island, with his back facing her. She couldn't see Sonic from her angle, not without sticking her entire head through, but she could tell he wasn't far off from Shadow's right, if the clattering of dishes didn't indicate it already.

"I haven't heard much from either of you guys for a while. Gotta be honest, I was a little worried after the last time I ran into ya, but from the looks of it you guys have been holding this whole thing down pretty well! It's nice to see the progress face first, you know?" Sonic smiled to himself. "I didn't think you'd take me up on my BS and actually acknowledge that you have feelings. Especially since it was for someone prickly like Knuckles." Shadow frowned, unsure if whether he was hearing things of if there really was something condescending about the tone of Sonic's voice.

There was a list of snarky insults Shadow knew he could spit back out at him but verbal sparring with Sonic wasn't what Shadow came here to do, and he didn't want to get side-tracked or distracted by petty arguments. So, instead of snapping at him, he held his tongue.

That confused the blue hedgehog and caused him to pause in his dish scrubbing. He had been readily waiting for one of Shadow's signature clap-backs only to receive nothing in response. Sonic turned his head and took a glance over his shoulder to look at the pondering hedgehog, to find him playing with an empty shot glass in his hands. Glaring at it, angrily. Shadow didn't look at his direction or even acknowledge Sonic's obvious unasked question. The blue blur frowned, disapprovingly. "You _do_ have feelings for Knux, right Shads?"

The hand toying with the shot glass froze. Shadow's face scrunched up in irritation, but he still didn't look in his direction. Sonic's frown deepened. "Don't ask me stupid questions Sonic." He went back to flipping the empty cup between his fingers to hide his discomfort.

"I'm being serious Shadow. I'd like an actual answer." This time Shadow acknowledged him and stopped toying with the shot glass, glancing at him from the side of his eye. To his surprise, Sonic's face wasn't set into that easy going grin of his; his mouth was down-turned down into a deep frown. A look that the Ultimate Lifeform couldn't recall ever really seeing on that hedgehogs face.

 _'Huh, so Sonic is capable of being serious when the occasion called.'_

"Of course I do."

Sonic's stare didn't budge from him, looking at Shadow with an unnerving amount of scrutiny. It took a few silent moments of them glaring at each other before that frown finally dropped from the blue hedgehogs face. Then that smile came back, much to Shadow's dislike. He almost preferred the other. "Alright then! Just checkin. It's a best friend's job to make sure that their boyfriend is treating them right, y'know."

"Hmmft." Shadow scoffed. "I'd be more inclined to believe you if you weren't the same person who almost had Knuckles emptying his stomach all over the floor." Shadow sneered. " _Tequila_ at that, disgusting."

"Ehh, to each their own." Sonic tossed a miniature bottle of vodka over his shoulder and Shadow caught it with ease, not even looking in his direction. "Loosen up a little, we're technically adults now. It'd be a waste if we didn't get sick to our stomach drinking terrible alcohol at least once."

Rouge didn't need to see him to know that Shadow was rolling his eyes. Probably thinking along the lines of _'Speak for yourself.'_

"I'm happy for you two, y'know." The obsidian hedgehog looked at Sonic again this time, suspicious eyes narrowing at the back of the blue hero. "Proud too! A few months ago neither of you would of thought to be all snuggled up with each other, especially around the rest of us. You guys are making some serious strides."

Unbeknownst to Sonic, that caused the dark hedgehog to look down at his hands once again, as he chose to say nothing. It felt strange to receive praise for something he hadn't truly initiated. Especially since Knuckles alcohol influenced behavior was entirely to blame, or in this case, to give credit too.

Strange as it was, Shadow found himself _liking_ the drunk version of his boyfriend very much. He liked how Knuckles didn't hesitate to put his hands on him. Grabbing and tugging him around, leaning against him. Shamelessly asking for his attention multiple times. Not to mention that unnecessary drunk confession. After blabbering out those heartfelt convictions, the guardian had treated Shadow as if he was his favorite person in the room for the entire rest of the night on. It made every crevice in his body fill with warmth and content.

It was far too endearing for him to handle.

He remembered the shake of his hands when Knuckles rested his head on his shoulder, trying to peak at his cards. His hands shook even more when his head hadn't moved even after he'd lost the game. Then the worst of it happened that almost had him rolling within his guilt fueled glee, Knuckles grabbed one of his hands.

He held onto it with a strong grip and looked up at Shadow from his place on his shoulder, mouthing the words _'you alright?'_ to him. As if, he was shaking from anything other than intense glee.

It was great, more than great.

…but he'd never acted like this around him before.

So as nice as it was... it didn't feel right, and it left him at a serious loss of what to do.

"You're mistaken."

Shadow had spoken so low that Sonic had barely heard him. He turned around to ask him to repeat himself but stopped in his tracks at the look of discomfort pinched on Shadow's face.

Sonic couldn't remember if he'd ever seen any display of nervousness and uncertainty come from Shadow before, so the fact that he was even able to spot it threw him for a loop. After all, this guy wasn't an open book, the complete opposite actually.

Come to think of it… why did Shadow follow him into the kitchen in the first place? He had a perfectly warm blanket burrito of a boyfriend in the other room to cuddle up with for the night, why in the world was he seeking out Sonic's company of all people. He'd expect the hedgehog to be ready to smack him upside the back of the head or shove his head in the sink, as payback for that stupid stunt he pulled earlier. Sure, it ended in his favor and Knuckles had succeeded in getting rid of Shadow's steaming rage for the rest of the night, but Sonic still expected some kind of rebuttal.

"Shads?" The grip he had around the shot glass tightened and Sonic noticed it almost instantly. It was at that exact moment that the blue hero's eyes widened. A rush of clarity hitting him straight in the face. Something was wrong and he mentally kicked himself for not being able to spot it earlier.

Shadow was _worried_ about something.

Instantaneously, he turned the faucet off. Abandoned every dish piled up at the sink to turn around and really take a good look at his rival. Noticing how the grip he had around that glass had the knuckles on his fingers tensing with agitation when Sonic's attention fully rested on him.

Okay, now Sonic was concerned. This was not usual Ultimate Dickhead behavior coming from his dark counterpart, but he knew better than to just waltz his way across personal boundaries with someone like Shadow. Someone who wasn't familiar with feeling and being vulnerable, let alone showing it to someone else. He was stepping on eggshells the moment he decided to give attention to the problem. So, instead of questioning him, he walked over to the brooding hedgehog and mimicked his lean against the kitchen island.

Sonic didn't expect the other to acknowledge him immediately, probably still swallowing the nasty pill of asking Sonic for an ear, in his own passive-aggressive manner. Therefore, in a show of patience and good faith, he tugged the now empty shot glass from Shadows tense hand.

"What's eatin at ya bud?" It was a simple enough question; not coated in any mock concern that Shadow could detect, but nether less, still put him on an edge. He could feel the light grind of teeth in his mouth, an instinctive reflex that he only up until recently realized he did. Knuckles pointed it out of course, Knuckles spotted a lot of shit he didn't know he did.

Shadow didn't respond right away and from the hard-pressed lines of his lips, Sonic wouldn't have been surprised if the hedgehog decided to remain quiet and not talk to him at all. However, eventually, the dark hedgehog sighed and relented.

"I am at a loss." Was the first thing he said, before pausing long enough to give Sonic time to butt in. He didn't, the blue hero instead tilted his head enough to become more visible within Shadow's peripheral vision and nodded for him to continue. Shadow did. "I think that I've been going at this attempt of a relationship with the echidna entirely wrong."

Sonic nodded again but frowned in confusion. "How so?"

Shadow took a moment to cross his arms in front of his chest, trying to create some sort of barrier between him and his hero counterpart. "As of tonight, I'm unsure of what Knuckles _really_ needs from me as a…a-" Shadow stumbled, lips turning up in disgust at the word sitting on his tongue.

This was almost painful for Sonic to watch. "As a boyfriend?"

"Yes…as a _boyfriend._ " Shadow almost looked like he was going to blush of all things. Sonic had to fight every urge in his body that was screaming to tease him for it. Now was not the time, not when he was actually getting this prickly emotion deprived mess of a biohazard to talk to him.

"Okay, go on."

Shadow exhaled a heavy sigh. "I am feeling guilty for taking this night for granted. It might have been wrong to enjoy the odd level of affection Knuckles both gave and required of me tonight because he was drunk. I was relishing in the fact of how… easy it all felt. _It was so much easier to actually touch him when he wasn't being himself._ "

…Sonic had to pause for an ENTIRE second and calmly remind himself not to beat Shadow's ass and that Shadow was just really fucking bad at wording his emotions and definitely wasn't talking about assaulting his best friend while he was drunk.

…but just to be clear.

"What kind of touching are you talking about here?" Shadow turned to him and frowned.

"Are you joking? You were there, you saw close we were together."

"So, you mean… domestic shit. Like, cuddling and holding hands type of stuff yeah?"

"Yes." Shadow's frown deepened. "What else would I mean?"

"Just checking, just checking." Sonic let out a sigh of relief. "And no… no, you're right. Drunk Knuckles is 100 times friendlier than normal Knuckles. Did you know he hugged me three times tonight? I can still feel my ribs breaking." Sonic grinned, trying to quickly change the direction of the conversation. "It's gonna to be weird going back to hanging out with the regular thing tomorrow when he wakes up all grumpy and cranky again." Shadow face pinched even more, but this time Sonic took notice to it. "Is that what's bothering you, Knuckles going back to being… well, Knuckles."

"No." Shadow shook his head. "That's not it. I enjoyed seeing this new side of the guardian. It was different…." He severely understated. "But I feel guilty." Sonic blinked in surprise. "Knuckles slipped into this person I wasn't familiar with and even though I enjoyed it, it made me a little uncomfortable. Do you understand what I'm speaking of?"

Sonic was dumb-founded. He shook his head no."I… don't think so." He admitted. "What are you saying? That Knux was making you uncomfortable?"

"No." Shadow denied instantly. "Knuckles isn't the problem. I'm the... - it's _me._ " Shadow scowled, trying to rack his brain for the right words for him to get his… _feelings_ (god he can't believe he was dealing with those now) across. Sonic stood next to him patiently, giving Shadow the time he needed to pull his thoughts together. It was so strange to see the Ultimate Lifeform at a loss for words and so vividly bothered by something. "I was uncomfortable with _my own_ enjoyment, that I felt while basking in a side of the Guardian he did not reveal to me before, willingly."

 _'Ooooo, now I get it.'_ Sonic thought, brain finally able to pull the pieces together. He supposed in that regard he could understand, but then…

 _'Wait.'_

"Shads, all you guys did was cuddle up together like a couple of potatoes and hold hands. You mean to tell me that the two of you never did anything like that before tonight?" Sonic's horror only tripled when Shadow nodded his head to confirm what he'd just asked. "But, you guys are dating, right?"

Shadow nodded. "We are."

"Since winter?"

"Yes!" Shadow replied exasperated.

"And you haven't done anything even close to holding hands? _Anything?_ Like, at all?"

"Not… not since his birthday, no."

 _" **WHY?"**_

Shadow jumped at the outburst, his black ears curved down instantaneously. Sonic would have thought it was adorable if he wasn't so fucking _**baffled.**_ "Alright, no. Explain this shit to me, right now."

"It's important between the Guardian and I that we have an established level of trust for one another and respect certain boundaries. Up till now, I have been determined to abide by them." He explained. "But I do not think I can keep my previous intention after tonight, and that's why I'm concerned. I think I have been reading into this relationship wrong. Ever since we established feelings for one another, I have been developing much stronger urges to reach out and actually touch him, but I never thought it'd be appropriate to do so. Knuckles doesn't like to be touched so I wanted to show him that I respect that and not make him uncomfortable by behaving differently."

"But..." Sonic facepalmed his forehead and dragged his hand down his face. "But... but, _Shads._ Oh my god." Sonic pinched the brim of his nose and let out an exasperated sigh. He wasn't sober enough for this kind of conversation. "Shads, you're not just his friend anymore, you're his boyfriend. Those rules don't apply to you."

Shadows eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know that?"

"Because he-!" Sonic paused, and sputtered over himself, making sure to catch whatever it was he was about to reveal about his best friend. It was not his place to do so. "Because... because… that's just how romantic relationships work. You are supposed to be closer than friends with the one you like, that's what makes it a relationship in the first place. The least you guys can do is hold hands!"

"And he'd like that?"

"I don't know man, have you asked him?" Shadow froze, suddenly realizing that no. He never asked Knuckles about anything. _Shit._ _"Shads..."_ His name came out as a drawn-out whine from Sonic's mouth. "-really? How you gonna know what your boyfriend wants and doesn't want from you if you don't even _talk to him about it._ Just deciding _'Hey I'm not going to touch him at all, and see how this works out'_ is a really bad solution to that problem."

"Ah..." Sonic had a point there.

"What if he wants that from you?" Sonic pushed himself off the counter to stand in front of him. God, Rouge was right. These two knew absolutely nothing about dating. "Alright, let's get to the point here. If you had any doubt in your stubborn head that Knuckles wouldn't want that kind of affection from you, consider tonight as a message to how wrong your guess was."

Shadow nose scrunched up. "Are you sure about that Sonic? I mean, he was drunk."

"Bud, I know Red acting like a totally different person threw you for a loop, but getting drunk doesn't literally make you a totally different person. It just makes you do shit that you'd normally think about doing instead of actually doing it." Sonic smiled amusingly. "Why do you think I wanted to get Knuckles drunk in the first place? It's no secret that he's a big softy, but he'd rather choke on rocks than admit he actually likes to be given attention. And considering how much he was all over you tonight, I'd say that Knux thinks about doing that stuff with you more than any of us should probably know."

Shadow went quiet again but seemed to be taking what Sonic was telling him. "So, what you're saying is that Knuckles does want a more physical relationship with me."

"Oh god, you're making this sound so wrong. And this is just about holding hands! I can't believe the two of you are putting me through this."

"You're not making this any easier for me Sonic." Shadow deadpanned.

"I'm making this a hell of a lot easier for you! You wouldn't have even known Knuckles wanted to do cute shit like that if I hadn't dragged him down here and gotten him wasted."

Shadow growled. "Sonic…"

"Fine, fine. I'll let it go."

"What should I do?"

"Meaning?"

"Since _apparently,_ I haven't been doing the things we assume he wants from me, what should I do about it? Neither of us are very forward about this relationship and we tend to end up sidestepping around these... _feelings,_ more often than not. We don't handle them well."

"I've noticed." Sonic crossed his arms. "You guys are more out of whack with your own emotions than Eggman is with his own busted ass creations."

Okay, now he was starting to get on his nerves. "Are you done?"

"Yea, yeah I'm done."

"Good. So, _**tell me**_ what I should do."

"…what?" Sonic had to do a double take just to make sure he was hearing correctly. There was absolutely no way that _Shadow_ was very clearly and plainly ask him of all people for relationship advice; but, just by taking one look at him, Sonic could spot nothing but open sincerity on his rivals face.

 _Shit, Shadow was really asking him for relationship advice._

"What should I do about it Sonic?" Sonic blinked in a stupor, still shocked by the… surprisingly non-aggressive shift the conversation had turned too.

He'll admit, he was getting a bit catty in his agitation and jabbed a little too hard at Shadow's already open wounds. Believe it or not, Sonic had rehearsed what he would say to Shadow should they ever get into a confrontation about how to handle being affectionate in a relationship many times in his head. Sonic and Knuckles, while not seeing each other very often in person, had a good number of conversations that consisted of him explaining to Knuckles that _it was okay._ That he wasn't dying or having a heart attack, or becoming too soft. That he wasn't coming down with the shits after eating one of Sonic's greasy chilly dogs but was actually experiencing the butterflies of anxiety and excitement. _(Seriously, this actually happened.)_

That these were just normal things to feel when you're, inevitably, falling for someone.

Knuckles was so damn hard-headed though. The blue hero didn't know what was worst, his stubbornness, his pride or his embarrassment; because all three of those things had succeeded in giving Sonic a headache anytime he got into a conversation with Knuckles about this kind of shit.

So, getting into a similar conversation with someone EQUALLY AS STUBBORN if not MORE than the echidna himself had him prepping and bracing himself for when the time would arrive. Which is why Sonic was expecting some rebuttable, maybe a bit of name-calling, _shit,_ outright denial at the very least. He prepared his argument with backups upon backups specifically to combat Shadow's own, if he were put up a fight; but he didn't get _any_ fight.

So everything he planned to say to defend his point was useless, and it left him with nothing to say.

His mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish, as he searched his brain to try to come up with an answer- no, not just any answer. The _right_ answer. I mean, this was Shadow here, someone who swore he didn't know what the world _'help'_ means. Yet he stood here, openly displaying his lack of understanding around having a relationship, looked Sonic straight in the eye and asked him for it.

What other choice was there, but to make sure he gave him the right answer.

…and it was here in this moment, that he realized that there was no way that he could possibly have it.

Sonic rubbed a hand across his face and returned to his recline against the island counter, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Bud… I-" He started- "I really can't give you the right answer to that." He admitted, and immediately felt bad when Shadow's face flickered from determined to disappointment. Sonic was quick to explain his position. "I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, and that you were really set out on getting answer, but you gotta understand, even if I wasn't semi-drunk right now, there's no way I'd be able to give you the right one. Sure, I got answers but none of them would help because-"

"Because what?" The dark hedgehog scowled at him.

"Because that's not a question you should be askin me to begin with." Shadow's eyes widened ever so slightly, slightly taken aback by Sonic's chiding tone. "You shouldn't be asking me what I think you should do. You should be asking yourself what you **want** to do." Sonic addressed him. "And I want you to _really_ take some time to think about this for me here, cuz I don't think you've taken this into consideration long enough. If you had, you probably wouldn't be here talking to me in the first place." Sonic joked before turning towards his rival completely. "Think about it really hard in your head right now, what do you want Shadow?"

Shadow's frown somehow managed to deepen and he shifted his gaze away from Sonic's face, his crimson eyes narrowing in deep concentration. Sonic made sure to drop all traces of humor from his face because this… this was a big deal.

Shadow asking anyone for help was one insane milestone entirely on its own and now he was actually making the Ultimate Lifeform think about what he wanted out of his _**relationship.** _Something that had absolutely nothing to do with fighting, scheming or the danger of some catastrophic event.

Something so sickeningly normal that it threw Sonic's stomach into a nervous flutter of butterflies.

Sonic often had to remind himself that for Shadow, just having feelings or urges that related to romance in any form were still incredibly new concepts to him. Thinking about himself and what he wanted from his own life were practices that Shadow was learning on the go, as he did them; because these weren't the things that Shadow was _**wired**_ to do. The dark hedgehog was built for war and destruction, to carry out duties ill suitable for mortals to do. To be a symbol of hope and ultimate resistance in the face of chaos and warfare. The people who created the hedgehog probably never intended for the Ultimate Lifeform to even grow feelings let alone act on them.

Shadow was forming his own personality outside of what he was originally made for and Sonic had to remind himself that, it wasn't easy. That he had no idea how having to piece yourself together like that from the ground up felt like.

When putting it in that perspective Sonic felt a little guilty for becoming irritated with his friend. Just the fact that he was asking Sonic for his opinion on how to handle his relationship with his best friend was such a huge stride for him. His story may be different, but Sonic meant it when he said it was hard for him not to become fond of Shadow when he was so much like Knuckles himself.

"I want to **touch** him." Sonic almost choked on his _**spit.**_

 _'And the Oscar for dubious sexual innuendos of the century goes too...'_

"Uhm…" Sonic coughed. "C-Can you be more specific?" God he hoped Shadow wasn't saying what he thought he was saying or else he may have doomed them both to the most awkward and uncomfortable conversation they'd ever gotten into.

"I want to hold him." Shadow's shoulders dropped as if his sudden realization was releasing a heavy weight off his back. "I want-" He paused in mid-sentence, to give himself some time to gather his words. "-too be able to do what we were doing tonight, more often. Holding hands with him, hugging him, resting our heads together. I want to do all that and _more._ " One of the hedgehogs loose hands balled into a lose fist at the declaration.

"I want him to be able to reach out to me like this again. With no hesitation, confidently. Just as he did tonight. You saw it for yourself Sonic, he didn't even think twice about it." Shadow's voice went so soft that Sonic's eyes widened in surprise. "He just... grabbed me and glued himself to my side like there was no other place he'd rather be." All the air had left Sonic's lungs as he watched the torn conflict of emotions cross over Shadow's face. He looked nearly heart-broken, and Sonic would have believed that his friend was in anguish if he hadn't heard how he was speaking about his boyfriend.

"But then I remembered that, if he was sober Knuckles wouldn't be so bold. Which in itself I is odd because it goes completely against our nature. We are very blunt and straightforward individuals, but when it comes to us together, we lose our grit. It shouldn't have to be this way... I don't want it to be this way." There was no hiding the upset in Shadow's voice. "If you're correct Sonic, that Knuckles is just as confused about how to act upon this as I am, that he wants the same thing that I do, then I want to be able to bridge that gap between us. So we can be closer to one another. Not because we are intoxicated, or under the influence of alcohol; tangible. _Real._ " Shadow spoke as if he had reached an epiphany and looked back at him with so much intensity it stunned Sonic to silence. "I want this kind intimacy to become something real."

Sonic was speechless, stunned and openly staring at Shadow with surprised awe at the heartfelt proclamation he definitely, did not ask for. Nonetheless, he felt his own heart being moved by the pure amount of emotion he had never seen come from his rival before. His crimson eyes burning in fierce determination. He could not hold back his smile, humbled by Shadow's sudden self-discovery.

It was at this point he knew that nudging these two together was an A-plus idea.

"That's perfect Shads." He responded with great pride with surprisingly little dragging to his words. It was only now he noticed just how much this conversation had sobered him up. "That's fantastic! What are you going to do to make that happen?"

His eyes shifted around curiously, now coming to another roadblock within his path to discovering the proper solution. He had been perfectly honest up until now, it would be a step back if tried covering up his uncertainty with his ego now. "I'm not sure." He spoke. "Do so… spontaneously?"

"Pfft." Sonic didn't mean to laugh but, Shadow hugging someone spontaneously was unimaginable. "No no no, don't do that. I mean, yeah you could do that. But, it'd be creepy. That's more like somethin Amy would do. What do you think YOU should do?"

Shadow looked even more frustrated and looked at Sonic like he'd run out of ideas. "Cmon, Shads." He nudged him with his arm. "You're the best at communicating with Knuckles out of all of us, you spend most of your time with him! Before all these feelings surfaced and got in your way, what was the best way you guys communicated with each other?"

"Just… talking."

"Exactly!" Sonic exclaimed. "You're one of the few people who actually knows how to talk to Knuckles. He's not transparent, not even a little bit. No matter how well you know him, you can't just assume you know what's best for him. You gotta ask him bud."

Shadow face scrunched up in disgust. Not at Sonic but at _himself._ Clearly displeased that he could not come to that conclusion on his own.

It was such a simple solution too. He'd been running an obstacle course in his mind about the best course of action for hours, all for it to wrap itself up in one of the simplest blows ever. Since when did he start to complicate things so needlessly?

Of course, the obvious solution was to talk to Knuckles about it.

"You need to get out of that head of yours buddy." Sonic elbowed him. "Relationships aren't a one-sided thing, and they tend to get real confusing if you just spend your time thinking about it too much. Just talk to him Shads. I promise ya, it'll be a good conversation." Sonic winked. Shadow didn't even have it in him to roll his eyes anymore, still too angry with himself with not being able to come up with such an obvious answer. He'd gone and embarrassed himself in front of this blue idiot for no reason, how shameful.

 _"Who knows,_ you'll probably even get a kiss."

So caught off guard, the dark hedgehog didn't have enough reaction time to remember to stop himself from showing the wide-eyed look of eagerness that flashed across his face. "Pfft! PAHAHA! The look on your face!" He looked to Sonic in absolute horror, watching the blue bastard burst into hysteric laughter, in which the Ultimate Lifeforms face just barely managed not to turn red. His nostrils flared in rage.

 **SMACK!**

Shadow slapped Sonic upside the back of his head. _**Hard.**_ "YOW!" Sonic jumped from his side and cradled the back of his head with his hands. "Dammit Shadow! That hurt! Uncalled for!"

"Sorry." He said sarcastically, blowing imaginary dust off his wrist. "Looks like I don't know my own strength. Must be the alcohol."

"Oh, you think you're so funny."

"Hilarious really."

There was an angry pout on Sonic's face. "A little gratitude would be nice y'know. I just helped you!"

"Yes." He confirmed, calmly. "Yes, you did." Sonic paused in rubbing the back of his assaulted skull while Shadow pushed from the table to stand up straight and turned towards him, a look of content now resting on his previously agitated face. It wasn't a smile, Sonic was sure that those were reserved for Knuckles and only Knuckles. But it was enough for him to know that Shadow was back to being old self. _An asshole._

Sonic grinned regardless, not able to imagine him any other way. "What, not going to say _'Thank you for all your help Sonic. You're so smart and wise; you just know the answers to all my problems. What would I ever do without you?"_ He said in an overly girlish voice.

Shadow returned the look with a massive eye roll. Sonic was sure he was going to make Shadow roll his eyes to the back of his head permanently one day. "Delusional. As if you were ever deserving of such acknowledgment from me." With that, he turned around to walk his way out of the kitchen. Sonic's pout grew as he watched him walk away. He expected nothing less from the Ultimate Dickhead and understood that saying a plain _Thank You,_ just wasn't Shadow's style. Still, it annoyed the fuck out of him though.

To his surprise however, right before the _Ultimate Dickhead_ completely left the room, he halted in place from his spot in the doorway. Sonic gave the back of him a perplexed look, wide eyes blinking in surprise. Shadow turned to glance back at Sonic one more time and they locked gazes. "You have my gratitude Sonic." He spoke slowly and clearly. "Make sure what we spoke of _**never**_ leaves this room."

…oh. Did he just-

Holy shit he actually just got a thank you out of him. _HOLY SHIT HE ACTUALLY GOT-_ wow and now, he was sworn to secrecy, how lame. He couldn't even tell anybody! Honestly, he really didn't get what was with them with the whole secrecy thing. Everyone by now already knew they're dating!

 _'Ugghh'_ -but stupid as it was, if he could promise Knuckles his privacy he supposed extending to Shadow wouldn't be hard to do as well.

Sonic sighed, _'no one would probably believe me anyway.'_

"Yeah yea, I get the gist. Make sure no one knows how gay the Ultimate Shitstorm actually is. I hear ya, I hear ya." Sonic decidedly dismissed the glare Shadow gave him and gave him a perky thumbs up. "No worries Shads. Your business stays with me buddy."

That seemed like enough confirmation to satisfy him. He nodded, and left Sonic standing in the kitchen by himself.

Luckily, when the dark hedgehog left the room, Rouge the bat was nowhere to be found.

* * *

Rouge had, had enough.

She'd heard far too much for her bat ears to handle. Far, far too much. Much more than she had intended too.

There were just no words for what she'd had laid witness too. On one hand, Sonic and Shadow apparently had this weird friendship thing going on. Which she could have been more ecstatic about, if only for the fact that the topic they were discussing left absolutely no mercy on her feelings. It'd punched her hard, gut clenching in shock and anxiety as if she'd just been hit with a brick.

Shadow just went through a list of similar, complicated emotions and processed all of them so quickly. It was hard to believe that he'd come to this monumental realization just from one night of shenanigans and nonsense.

Rouge had no idea Shadow's feelings ran this fucking deep. Deep enough for him to swallow a good chunk of his pride and _physically_ go to Sonic, of all people, for help. _**Sonic.**_ It shocked her even further to find out that Sonic was this much involved in their relationship as well, apparently since the very fucking beginning; and was so much of a trusted source that Shadow had SPECIFICALLY sought out his blue rival in search for advice.

Advice, _**on how to be more intimate with a partner.**_

 _'Is this real life?'_ Rouge questioned in her head, _'Is this really happening right now?'_ She'd swear on every diamond in her collection that she didn't see any of this coming, It was like she blinked and everyone suddenly decided to date and be friends with their arch enemies.

Well, that was a little over dramatic. Not everyone, just the people she considered to be on the top tier of her friend list that she actually cared about.

There was so much changing within this circle of friends of hers that she didn't fucking know about. How much had slipped under her nose while she wasn't paying attention? Why did no one find it important to tell her? Why did Shadow think it'd be such a good idea to keep this a secret from her for this long? Wasn't she his best friend? Was he planning on hiding this from her _forever?_

Listening to their conversation, it sounded as if they've been dating since Knuckles birthday. That was in winter.

It was now the middle of fucking summer.

Rouge hand cradled her temples with two over her gloved fingers. Her mind was going into pointless circles. She wanted answers; upfront, clear, and honest answers, There were just too many pieces to this skewered plot that she was missing, and she was going to find and track down every, single, **one.  
**

Which is exactly how she found herself standing right outside of Knuckles _**door.**_

* * *

 **A/N:** Bro's look out for bros.

I feel like I write Sonic speaking to much with my Brooklyn tongue, idk why.

I'm actually really happy I made these two semi friends in this story though. Like it wasn't what I planned on writing but it just happened as I continued on with this chapter.

I like the outcome though, idk what yall will think of it.

What do you think of the whole conversation between Sonic and Shadow though? Did ya like it? Did ya hate it? Was it weird?

 _I honestly spent so much of my time editing and perfecting that specific part of the chapter that everything else probably pales in comparison._

Rouge and Knuckles gets their own chapter next. (˵¯͒ 〰¯͒˵) _**Oohohoh, its gon be spicccyyy**_


End file.
